FIRE IN THE SKY: Major Solar System Disturbance - Asteroid 2012 KT42 Zips Only 8,700 Miles From Earth on May 29th; 6th Closest to Date and Second One in Just 2 Days!

2012 KT42 was discovered earlier today May 28 by the Mt. Lemmon Survey’s 1.5-meter (59-inch) reflecting telescope north of Tucson, Arizona.

Earth gets a visit from asteroid 2012 KT42 overnight. The diagram shows the time of closest approach.
Credit: JPL/NASA

The tiny asteroid was only 18th magnitude and estimated at between 10-30 feet wide. While posing no threat, it’s moving rapidly towards closest approach to Earth around 2:10 a.m. CDT tomorrow morning May 29, when it will fly by at the slim distance of 8,700 miles. That would make 2012 KT42 the 6th closest asteroid approach to date. Click HERE to see a list of Top 20 closest approaches.

The asteroid will transit across the face of the sun tomorrow for parts of Asia and Africa. It will only be
about 6 seconds wide - very tiny. Click map for larger version. Thanks and credit to: Aldo Vitagliano

Savvy amateurs with 6-inch telescopes and larger should be able to see it shining between 12th and 13th  magnitude late tonight through tomorrow morning. Watch out though – the asteroid will move very rapidly across the sky. You’ll need to download its orbital elements at this site and put them into a sky-charting program, so you can make a detailed map to find and follow the zippy rock.

Once you do, don’t let go. You’ll be on a fast train. When closest, 2012 KT42 will be traveling at over 2 arc minutes per second. Two arc minutes is more than twice as big as Jupiter appears through a telescope. That’s plenty fast enough to see move in real time! Viewers along a path that cuts across central Asia and Africa will see the asteroid transit the sun at around 5:10 CDT May 29. - Astro Bob.

THE GREAT TRIBULATION: Global Economic Contagion - World Scrambles to Prepare For the Collapse of the Euro Zone!

Policymakers and firms across Europe are making preparations to cope with a break-up of the single currency, with the president of the Swiss central bank yesterday becoming the latest senior figure to admit to contingency plans for a "collapse" of the Euro Zone. 

"We must be prepared just in case the currency union collapses, although I don't expect that to happen," said Swiss National Bank boss Thomas Jordan. He added that his objective would be to prevent funds flooding into the safe haven of the Swiss franc, which could damage his country's export sector.  Switzerland has already taken an economic hit from appreciation of the Swiss franc over the past year. Last September, the SNB put a cap on the currency's value against the euro to protect exports.  Sterling has also appreciated considerably since the beginning of the year as market fears over the future of the single currency have increased. Bank of England Governor, Sir Mervyn King, said this month that the Bank was preparing contingency plans to cope with a potential major economic shock to the UK economy emanating from the Euro Zone.  Last week, the European Commission said that it has asked member states to make plans to deal with a potential Greek exit, ahead of a second round of Greek elections on 17 June.  It is not just Euro Zone officials who are making emergency preparations.

The chief executive of Lloyd's of London, Richard Ward, yesterday said the insurance market was also developing contingency plans. "I don't think that if Greece exited the euro it would lead to the collapse of the Euro Zone, but what we need to do is prepare for that eventuality," Mr Ward told The Sunday Telegraph. "We would switch to multi-currency settlement if the Greeks abandoned the euro and started using the drachma again."  Last week, sources told Reuters news agency that French banks – the most exposed of Europe's banks to a Greek debt default – have stepped up contingency planning. At the end of December 2011, French lending to Greece was $44.4bn (£28.3bn), according to data from the Bank for International Settlements. Meanwhile, Spain will try to shore up confidence in its fragile banking sector this week. On Saturday, the president of Spain's fourth-largest lender, Bankia, said that it would be looking to sell off many of its overseas assets, including stakes in British Airways and Iberia, after it was effectively nationalised last week. 

Market concern about the solvency of its banks has exacerbated fears about the solvency of Spain itself since its lenders have been the largest purchasers of Spanish sovereign debt since the turn of the year. Spanish banks are estimated to be holding 30 per cent of the country's debt. Many analysts fear Madrid could become the fourth Euro Zone state to require a rescue.  More political pressure in the single currency could materialise on Thursday when Ireland holds a referendum on whether or not to approve the new fiscal compact, which has been strongly pushed by Germany as the quid pro quo for its financing of bailouts for weaker member states.  The pact could still come into force if Ireland votes "no", since the ratification of only 12 Euro Zone countries is needed. But an Irish rejection would still intensify the political and economic turmoil in the single currency. - Independent.

WATCH: Greek Misery - Looted, suicidal, and desperate.

FUK-U-SHIMA: Pandora's Box at Japan's Nuclear Dead Zone - Japan's Former Leader Says the Fukushima Accident Pushed Japan to the Brink of a National Collapse and the Evacuation of Tokyo’s 30 Million Residents!

In an unusually stark warning, Japan’s prime minister during last year’s nuclear crisis told a parliamentary inquiry on Monday that the country should discard nuclear power as too dangerous, saying the Fukushima accident had pushed Japan to the brink of “national collapse.”  In testimony to a panel investigating the government’s handling of the nuclear disaster, the former prime minister, Naoto Kan, also warned that the politically powerful nuclear industry was trying to push Japan back toward nuclear power despite “showing no remorse” for the accident.     

Japan's former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, center, spoke during a parliamentary inquiry in Toyko on Monday.

Mr. Kan’s was the most closely watched testimony in the six-month inquiry, which was started by lawmakers who felt an earlier internal investigation by the government had papered over problems. Mr. Kan used the appearance to criticize the relatively pronuclear stance of the current prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who replaced him in August.  Mr. Noda has called for restarting Japan’s undamaged nuclear plants, which have all been idled since the accident because of public safety concerns. He says the plants are needed to avoid economically crippling power shortages. Mr. Noda has met stiff resistance from many Japanese voters, who say the government is rushing to restart the plants without proving that they are safe or allowing time for a proper public dialogue over whether Japan actually needs nuclear power.  In his testimony, Mr. Kan said that Japan’s plant safety was inadequate because energy policy had been hijacked by the “nuclear village” — a term for the power companies and pronuclear regulators and researchers that worked closely together to promote the industry. He said the only way to break their grip was to form a new regulatory agency staffed with true outsiders, like American and European experts.  “Gorbachev said in his memoirs that the Chernobyl accident exposed the sicknesses of the Soviet system,” Mr. Kan said, referring to the 1986 explosion of a reactor in Ukraine, which spewed radiation across a wide swath of Europe. “The Fukushima accident did the same for Japan.” 

Since resigning from office last August, Mr. Kan has kept a low profile. Despite the pointed comments, it seems unlikely that he is trying to stage a political comeback, given the widely shared perception here that his government bungled its response to the accident, covering up the true extent of the danger. Rather, he seemed to be trying to improve his own tarnished legacy.  Mr. Kan spent much of his three-hour testimony fending off criticisms of his handling of the accident, which covered a wide area in northeastern Japan with radiation.  He complained that nuclear regulators and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, kept him in the dark about crucial details in the days immediately after a huge earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing three of the plant’s reactors to melt down.  He said he tried to be fully open with the public and hid nothing. But he seemed to undermine that claim when he disclosed that in the early days of the crisis he feared it could spiral out of control, even as his own ministers were giving public reassurances that they had the plant under control.  He said he feared additional meltdowns could “release into the air and sea many times, no, many dozens of times, many hundreds of times the radiation released by Chernobyl.” 

Those fears led to the most extraordinary moment of the crisis, when Mr. Kan walked into Tepco’s headquarters after being told the company wanted to evacuate its staff from the crippled plant. He demanded that they stay, saying he was prepared to put his own life on the line to prevent the disaster from worsening.  He also defended his visit to the plant on the day after the earthquake, which has been widely criticized for distracting plant personnel at a crucial juncture in their efforts to save the overheating reactors. Mr. Kan told the panel that he wanted to get an assessment directly from the plant manager because he felt Tepco officials in Tokyo were not giving him enough information.  But his strongest comments came at the end of his testimony, when a panel member asked if he had any advice for the current prime minister. Mr. Kan replied that the accident had brought Japan to the brink of evacuating metropolitan Tokyo and its 30 million residents, and that the loss of the capital would have paralyzed the national government, leading to “a collapse of the nation’s ability to function.”  He said the prospect of losing Tokyo made him realize that nuclear power was just too risky, that the consequences of an accident too large for Japan to accept.  “It is impossible to ensure safety sufficiently to prevent the risk of a national collapse,” Mr. Kan said. “Experiencing the accident convinced me that the best way to make nuclear plants safe is not to rely on them, but rather to get rid of them.”  However, Mr. Noda apparently did not the heed the warning. Hours later, the prime minister indicated that he may soon make a decision on restarting the Oi nuclear plant in western Japan, which he hopes will be a first step toward turning on Japan’s other idled plants. - New York Times.

THE PRIEST CLASS OF THE MAGI: Petrus Romanus - The Vatican Scandal Could Grow Further as the Leaks and Revelations Continue in the Power Struggle to Install the Final Pope!

A scandal that has rocked Vatican City threatened to expand Monday. So far, the only person under arrest is Pope Benedict XVI's butler.

But few believe that he is the sole source of the leaks that have exposed corruption and double-dealing inside the leadership of the Catholic Church.  At the center of the holy whodunit is Paolo Gabriele, the pope's personal butler. Since he was arrested last week on suspicion of stealing confidential documents, rumors have swirled that he must have had some high-ranking help -- perhaps as high as the so-called 'princes of the Church,' the cardinals.  Marco Tosatti covers the Vatican for one of Italy's biggest newspapers. "If Paolo Gabriele acted as he did," he said, "well, probably there was somebody very important who convinced him to do it." 

On Monday, the Vatican denied that any cardinal was under investigation. But the scandal shows no sign of slowing. The butler pledged that he'd cooperate fully with investigators, raising the specter that he would name others.  Gabriele -- a father of three -- has worked for the Pope since 2006, and is one of the few layman to have access to the Pope's private apartment.  He's accused of leaking letters and memos to Italian journalists that allegedly show corruption in the Church's financial dealings with Italian businesses, including money laundering and kickbacks.  The revelations are part of a number of embarrassing leaks that show the Church and its inner workings in disarray.  For the moment Paolo Gabriele is the lone arrest. If found guilty, he could face up to 30 years in prison. - CBS News.

LISTEN: Red Ice Creations interviews Tom Horn about the upheaval at the Vatican and the prophecy surrounding Petrus Romanus, the Final Pope.

THE SYRIAN CRISIS: International Pressure Mounts After Slaughter of 108 Civilians - Russia Condemns Assad, Maybe "Backing Away From Long-Standing Support of Damascus"!

A weekend massacre of more than 100 people emerged as a potential turning point in the Syrian crisis Monday, galvanizing even staunch ally Russia to take an unusually hard line against President Bashar Assad's government.  Analysts said Russia may be warning Assad that he needs to change course or lose Moscow's support, which has been a key layer of protection for the Syrian government during the uprising that began in March 2011. 

Russia has grown increasingly critical of Damascus in recent months, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's latest comments were unusually strong. Although he said opposition forces have terrorists among them, he put the blame for 15 months of carnage primarily on Assad's government.  "The government bears the main responsibility for what is going on," Lavrov said in Moscow following a meeting with British Foreign Secretary William Hague. "Any government in any country bears responsibility for the security of its citizens."  Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East expert with the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Lavrov's comments suggest Russia may be backing away from its long-standing support for Damascus.  "Bashar Assad is driving himself and Russia into a corner," Malashenko said. "Bashar has definitely gotten the sense that he may lose Russia's sympathy, and he may step back a bit."  It is not clear whether Assad's forces were exclusively to blame for the slaughter of 108 people Friday in Houla, a collection of poor farming villages in Homs province. The United Nations said 49 children and 34 women were among the dead; some had bullet holes through their heads.  The U.N. Security Council blamed Syrian forces for artillery and tank shelling of residential areas, but it did not clearly state who was responsible for the close-range shooting deaths and "severe physical abuse" of civilians.  Activists from the area said the army pounded the villages with artillery and clashed with local rebels. They said pro-government gunmen later stormed the area, doing the bulk of the killing by gunning down men in the streets and stabbing women and children in their homes.

The Syrian government rejected that account entirely, saying soldiers were attacked in their bases and fought back in self-defense without leaving their bases.  Russia blamed both the government and the rebels for the Houla massacre.  "Both sides have obviously had a hand in the deaths of innocent people, including several dozen women and children," Lavrov said. "This area is controlled by the rebels, but it is also surrounded by the government troops."  He said Russia has no interest in propping up Assad but wants Syria to guide its own transition under a plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan.  "We don't support the Syrian government; we support Kofi Annan's plan," Lavrov said.  Moscow's pro-Syria stance has been motivated in part by its strategic and defense ties to Damascus, including weapons sales. Russia also rejects what it sees as a world order dominated by the U.S.  Losing Russian support could be disastrous for Assad because his crackdown has left him almost completely isolated internationally. Russia and China have stood by him so far, using their veto power to block U.N. resolutions against him. - Huffington Post.

WATCH: 'Assad and rebels both to blame for Houla massacre'.

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: Plagues & Pestilences - Miami Police Shoot Naked, Mindless Man, Who Was Eating the Face Off Another Man; as Flesh-Eating Bacteria Spreads?!

Last year, the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention posted a gruesomely titled, "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse," as a guide towards emergency preparation. The article, written by Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, instructed readers how to prepare for "flesh-eating zombies" much like how they appeared in Hollywood hits like "Night of the Living Dead" and video games like "Resident Evil".  "There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for," the posting reads. "Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That's right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you'll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you'll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency."

A year later, the following headlines:

Naked man allegedly eating victim's face shot and killed by Miami Police.

It was a scene as creepy as a Hannibal Lecter movie.  One man was shot to death by Miami police, and another man is fighting for his life after he was attacked, and his face allegedly half eaten, by a naked man on the MacArthur Causeway off ramp Saturday, police said.  The horror began about 2 p.m. when a series of gunshots were heard on the ramp, which is along NE 13th Street, just south of The Miami Herald building.  According to police sources, a road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away.Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area.  The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots. - Miami Herald.

WATCH: Naked man allegedly chewing another man's face shot by police.

Fourth case of flesh-eating bacteria reported in Georgia.

Paul Bales was out of surgery and in stable condition after his left leg was amputated below the knee...  He was admitted to the Oconee Regional Medical Center on May 5, then sent to the Medical Center of Central Georgia a week later.  Mike Bales says doctors have told the family that his father suffers from necrotizing fasciitis, the same flesh-eating bacteria that struck north Georgia student Aimee Copeland and at least two other Georgians.  Part of the left leg had to be amputated because the bacteria damaged blood vessels in his leg, Mike Bales said.  After the surgery, he told us that doctors found more infected tissue in his father's leg and will have to operate again.  He said they could remove more of the leg.  Medical Center spokeswoman Janie Poulnott said Paul Bales is in stable condition but would not comment further. - 13WMAZ.

Researcher of flesh-eating disease murdered in cold blood in broad daylight.

A domestic dispute led to the broad daylight shooting death of a woman outside a US primary school.  The suspect, identified as Ali Cherfaoui, was in police custody after Friday's shooting in the carpool lane at Mary Scroggs Elementary School, in Chapel Hill , North Carolina WRAL-TV reported...  Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said Cherfaoui drove up to the school and shot Kebaier multiple times in the head and body before fleeing, WNCN-TV reported.  According to the station, Kebaier worked as a post doctorate research associate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's Pharmacology Department.  - News Australia.

Click HERE to look at the list and citations for Kebaier and her work on pneumonia-airbourne transmisable flesh-eating disease.

A South Carolina woman who gave birth to twins days ago is the latest victim of "flesh-eating bacteria."

WLTX-TV in Columbia reports that Lana Kuykendall is being treated at Greenville Memorial Hospital."Right now, just very worried, very upset," Krissy Davison, a friend of Kuykendall, told the station from the hospital. "Still in disbelief that here is my friend, who just had these two beautiful babies, and now she is incubated upstairs and not able to enjoy the bonding experience and enjoy the babies." The news of the latest attack of the disease comes days after reports that Aimee Copeland, 24, a grad student in Georgia, lost her leg and part of her abdomen battling the bacteria. Darren Kuykendall told WYFF-TV in Spartanburg, S.C., that his wife's vitals and blood work are good and physicians remain positive. "It's devastating, very devastating, very overwhelming, probably the worst thing I've ever done in my entire life," Darren Kuykendall told WYFF from the hospital.  - USA Today.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: Land Subsidence Continues in China - Astoundingly Massive Road Collapse in the Shaanxi Province!

May 27, 2012, Zhu Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province and the North Second Ring Cross north about 600 meters, mechanical and electrical market across the road suddenly collapse, Reporters on the scene, the road collapsed to a length of 15 m and a width of 10 m , about 6 meters of the pit.

The pit has a diameter of about one meter of pipeline rupture, fracture thickness of about 10 cm, exposing rusting steel bar at the top right of the fracture pipeline with a diameter of about 20 cm pipe with water flowing constantly; in the pit side through a gas pipeline from the pit the middle; a few black cable hanging in the air on the other side, there are a lot of cement and soil, feel the cable will break at any time fall; the bottom of the pit, sink roadbed and loess and cracked pipes.  Parked in the pit around the nearly 30 construction vehicles, the construction team of more than 70 people on standby by the Municipal Power Supply Bureau, gas companies and water companies.     "If a vehicle traveling in the incident point on the road, the consequences would be disastrous!" Via Liwei Chun said here of the public. Reporters on the scene saw the pits take up two lanes and part of the green belt. The accident took place traffic is not large, and even less in the morning. "Near a traffic police said the accident caused no casualties. It is understood that after the incident, the water company and other related departments rushed to the scene to deal with, in order to prevent the occurrence of secondary disasters.

Yesterday morning, the gas company's staff carefully the natural gas pipeline with a rope tied, and then the other end of the rope tied to the side of the road green belt. "Gas pipeline vacant more than three meters to worry about broken, temporarily take such reinforcement measures." Staff said.  Reporters on the scene, the accident near the part of the road one way or another more than 200 meters long cordon, and manned to prevent oncoming vehicles from a distance is too late to brake, crushed near the more vulnerable of the roadbed. There are cracks in the wall near the road and roadside. Until about 11  "The reason is still under investigation." 8 o'clock in the evening of 27, said Vice Minister of Operations Department at the construction site of Xi'an Water Industry Operations Limited pipe network gold may roadbed sinking severing the pipeline pipe seepage make The roadbed sinking, it is difficult to judge.  Gold, vice minister said that the broken pipe diameter of 1 meters, built thirty years ago, has become obsolete and can not continue to use the same time, the pipeline has been included in the transformation plan, "I never expected not to transform, an accident . "  Theoretically the life of the cement pipe is about 50 years, but often do not have such a long time, and production processes, materials and other site an official said, at present, Xi'an part of the aging pipeline, most of the listed into the transformation plan.  Why the formation of Tai Hang? On-site construction of the municipal staff explained that Xi'an is a wet land subsidence, water seepage, it is easy to sink In addition, there may be heavy vehicles passing by the road. Currently, the pipeline has been cut off from Fengcheng Road to the North Second Ring segment. - ENORTH News [Translated].

EXTREME WEATHER: Disaster Zone - 2 Very Violent Tornadoes Cause Widespread Property Damage Near Montreal, Canada; Could Amount to Millions of Dollars in Cost!

Two tornadoes ripped through communities near Montreal Friday night, smashing-in roofs, shattering windows and uprooting trees that lay in their paths. 

Campbell Miller looks over the wreckage of the Grand Fresniere Presbyterian church caused by a force
one tornado in Saint Benoit, Quebec, on Saturday.

No one appears to have been injured after the twisters struck within minutes of each other in largely rural communities which lay about 35 kilometres apart.  "Someone at the wrong place at the wrong time could have been seriously injured, but fortunately that wasn't the case," said Environment Canada meteorologist Rene Heroux, who spent Saturday touring the areas where the tornadoes touched down.  The weather agency said a low-scale F-0 tornado first struck the rural community of Brownsburg Chatham around 8 p.m. Friday, with winds reaching 120 kilometres per hour.  A second stronger F-1 twister then touched down in the community of Saint Benoit de Mirabel just 15 minutes later, with gusts of 150 kilometres per hour.  "For both events the damage was over a rural area," said Heroux. "The damage was mostly roofs that were damaged, farming equipment, farming sheds, some windows broken, trees uprooted." 

Environment Canada uses the Fujita scale to rate the severity of tornadoes as a measure of the damage they cause. The scale runs from F-0 to F5.  F-0 is considered a "light" twister, while F-1 is defined as a "moderate" tornado, according to the agency.  Up to seven homes felt the brunt of the twister in Saint Benoit, said Heroux, while approximately 10 farming areas were hit hard in Brownsburg Chatham.  Some buildings were damaged worse than others.  A number of barns and sheds in Brownsburg Chatham had walls ripped away by the tornado and metal from some farming equipment was wrenched from its place and hurled a distance away.  In Saint Benoit, the historic Grand Fresniere Presbyterian Church was flattened by the twister.  "This one was totally destroyed," Heroux said of the small brick church.  Mirabel Mayor Hubert Meilleur estimated the damage from Friday's severe weather would amount to millions of dollars and said he might ask the province for help if the area is designated a disaster zone.  Numerous power outages were reported as power lines were felled to the ground. Hydro Quebec crews were working to restore power to homes Friday night through Saturday.  The two tornadoes were Quebec's first of the season.  The province typically sees six twisters a year, usually between June and August, ranging between F-0 and F-1 on the Fujita scale. - The Star.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: 15-Foot Sinkhole Closes Road in Columbus, Minnesota!

A 15-foot sink hole caused a road closure Saturday in Columbus, Minnesota.

The 15-foot deep hole developed in the middle of the 16000 block of Kettle River Boulevard Howard Lake Drive and Notre Dame Street Northeast. No injuries have been reported due to the sink hole.

Anoka County officials permanently closed the road. Repair crews are expected to begin working on repairs Tuesday, following Memorial Day to repair it on Tuesday. The cause of the opening is not yet known.

To repair the Boulevard, crews will need to need excavate the road, put in a culvert, then fill in and resurface it with new asphalt. The dispatcher did not think we had enough rain for that to be the cause. - FOX9.

WATCH: Huge sinkhole in Columbus.

STORM ALERT: Beryl Downgraded to a Tropical Depression - Soaks American Southeast, Knocking Out Power to Thousands!

According to the AP, Tropical Storm Beryl threatened to soak military remembrance ceremonies and beach vacations on Memorial Day as it brought drenching rain, winds and the possibility of flooding to the southeastern U.S. coast.

Tropical Storm Beryl as it makes landfall in Florida early Sunday May 28, 2011, bringing drenching rains
and driving winds to the southeastern U.S. coast, forecasters said.

The storm made landfall in Florida just after midnight Monday near Jacksonville Beach in Florida with near-hurricane-strength winds of 70 mph (113 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Thousands had lost power in southern Georgia and northeastern Florida. Beryl continues to weaken and has been downgraded by the National Hurricane Center to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35mph.

Its forecast to make a turn to the right and head in a more Northward direction later today before getting caught in a trough and moving Northeastward along the Georgia and South Carolina coastlines. Beryl will produce heavy rain from North Florida to Southern South Carolina, 4-8 inches will be possible, locally a foot. These areas need the rain since there is a drought still in place, however, too much rain too fast can lead to flash flooding. Rip currents and rough surf will continue to be a concern. Beryl made landfall a little after midnight last night near Jacksonville, FL with maximum sustained winds of 70mph. - FOX News.

MYSTERY: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?!

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Lebanon, Missouri, United States - 26th of May, 2012.

London, United Kingdom - 26th of March, 2012.

Brussels, Belgium - 26th of March, 2012.

Canberra, Australia - 13th of May, 2012.

Moscow, Russia - 24th of May, 2012.

Melbourne, Australia - 24th of May, 2012.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Seismic Hazard - Faults Discovered Near Lake Tahoe Could Generate Earthquakes Ranging From 6.3 to 6.9!

Results of a new U.S. Geological Survey study conclude that faults west of Lake Tahoe, California, referred to as the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone, pose a substantial increase in the seismic hazard assessment for the Lake Tahoe region of California and Nevada, and could potentially generate earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 6.3 to 6.9. A close association of landslide deposits and active faults also suggests that there is an earthquake-induced landslide hazard along the steep fault-formed range front west of Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe Faults, Shaded Relief Map.
Shaded relief map of western part of  the
Lake Tahoe basin, California. Faults lines
are dashed where approximately located,
dotted where concealed, bar and ball on
downthrown side. Heavier line weight shows
principal range-front fault strands of the
Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone (TSFFZ).
Opaque white boxes indicate approximate
segment boundaries and right steps in range
front separating principal fault strands.
EB— Emerald Bay; ELP—Ellis Peak;
EP—Echo Peak; MT—Mt. Tallac;
RP—Rubicon Peak; TW—Twin Peaks

Using a new high-resolution imaging technology, known as bare-earth airborne LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), combined with field observations and modern geochronology, USGS scientists, and their colleagues from the University of Nevada, Reno; the University of California, Berkeley; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have confirmed the existence of previously suspected faults. LiDAR imagery allows scientists to "see" through dense forest cover and recognize earthquake faults that are not detectable with conventional aerial photography.  "This study is yet one more stunning example of how the availability of LiDAR information to precisely and accurately map the shape of the solid Earth surface beneath vegetation is revolutionizing the geosciences," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt.

"From investigations of geologic hazards to calculations of carbon stored in the forest canopy to simply making the most accurate maps possible, LiDAR returns its investment many times over."  Motion on the faults has offset linear moraines (the boulders, cobbles, gravel, and sand deposited by an advancing glacier) providing a record of tectonic deformation since the moraines were deposited. The authors developed new three-dimensional techniques to measure the amount of tectonic displacement of moraine crests caused by repeated earthquakes. Dating of the moraines from the last two glaciations in the Tahoe basin, around 21 thousand and 70 thousand years ago, allowed the study authors to calculate the rates of tectonic displacement.  "Although the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone has long been recognized as forming the tectonic boundary between the Sierra Nevada to the west, and the Basin and Range Province to the east, its level of activity and hence seismic hazard was not fully recognized because dense vegetation obscured the surface expressions of the faults," said USGS scientist and lead author, James Howle. "Using the new LiDAR technology has improved and clarified previous field mapping, has provided visualization of the surface expressions of the faults, and has allowed for accurate measurement of the amount of motion that has occurred on the faults. The results of the study demonstrate that the Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone is an important seismic source for the region." - Science Daily.

FIRE IN THE SKY: Newly Discovered 25 Meter-Wide Asteroid to Buzz Earth on May 28!

Asteroid 2012 KP 24, a smallish rock about 25 meters (80 feet) across, will pass pretty close to the Earth on May 28, buzzing us at a distance of about 51,000 kilometers (32,000 miles). That’s close as passes go, but still a clean miss.

Closest approach is at about 15:00 UTC (11:00 a.m. Eastern US time) on May 28. At closest approach, it’ll whiz by at about 13 km/sec (30,000 mph). I’ll note I calculated most of these numbers based on the JPL site linked above, and they may be refined over the next day or two [see?]. It was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey (as so many near-Earth asteroids are) on the evening of May 23/24.

Orbital path of Asteroid 2012 KP 24.

Let me stress, as always, that there is essentially zero chance of impact here. A miss like this is still miss, so don’t fret over what will no doubt be a slew of panicky doomsday sites and videos that will pop up about this rock — that happens every single time we get a near-Earth pass of an asteroid, and yet we’re still here! If we see one really and truly on its way to an impact, trust me, I’ll let you know. And actually, things like this make me feel safer: we’re looking and finding these asteroids! The fact is there are a lot of eyes on the skies right now, scanning the heavens and looking for potential impactors. And note that the JPL page for this rock has all the relevant info there. - Discover Magazine.

EXTREME WEATHER: Massive Michigan Wildfire Has Destroyed Nearly 100 Buildings - Over 22,000 Acres Have Been Burned!

Officials say a wildfire burning across more than 30 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula has destroyed nearly 100 buildings but there have been no reports of injuries.

The fire that began last week has burned 95 structures, with a third of them being homes or cabins. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Monday that the Duck Lake Fire has burned more than 22,000 acres, or 34 square miles, in Luce County.  The fire is 51 percent contained and officials still are warning people to stay away from the nearby Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  Gov. Rick Snyder last week barred fireworks and outdoor burning in 49 Michigan counties due to extremely dry conditions. But officials say intermittent rain has helped the Duck Lake firefighting effort. - SPI.

WATCH: Duck Lake wildfire burns out of control.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONTAGION: The Euro Zone Crisis - Former PM Papademos Warns That Greece Will Run Out of Money by the End of June; Financial Markets Have Already Lost 2 Trillion Dollars Since Greek Stalemate!

Greece's public finances could collapse as early as next month, leaving salaries and pensions unpaid unless a stable government emerges from the June 17 election, according to Lucas Papademos, the technocrat prime minister who left office after this month's inconclusive vote.

"From late June onwards, the ability of the government to fund its obligations fully depends on the approval of the subsequent installments of loans from the EFSF and the IMF," To Vima newspaper quoted Papademos as saying in a leaked memo.  "The available funds in the Greek government will be reduced gradually from about €3.8bn [£3bn} on May 11 to about €700m on June 18 and from June 20 will enter negative territory at the level of around €1bn."  Centre-left To Vima said Papademos made the warning in a memo to President Carolos Papoulias dated May 11 that was then circulated to party leaders as they tried to form a coalition after an inconclusive May 6 vote.  Greece in 2010 committed itself to a reform programme in return for hundreds of billions of euros in bailout funds from the the European Union bailout fund EFSF and the International Monetary Fund.  On May 6 voters weary with salary cuts and other austerity measures handed second place to radical left-wing party Syriza, which has threatened to renege on the bailout accords. If Greece broke the terms of the deal and forfeited its bailout funds, it would likely default on its debts and may leave the eurozone. - Telegraph.

Meanwhile, it has now been revealed that the financial markets lost two trillion dollars since the Greek stalemate began.

Markets are now closely watching the polls in the run-up to the second Greek election in mid-June. Anti-austerity forces made surprising gains in the last election, so much so that attempts to forge a coalition government failed, and a new vote had to be called.  This comes amid a sinking economic outlook for the euro zone.  "It’s been three weeks since the Greek elections produced a stalemate between pro- and anti-bailout parties, unleashing a wave of doubts about Greece’s future in the euro, and about the common currency itself," noted deputy chief economist Douglas Porter of BMO Nesbitt Burns.  "In that short span, the euro has dropped by more than 4 per cent to $1.251 (U.S.), 10-year Treasury yields have hit century-lows of 1.7 per cent, and global equity markets have dropped almost 5 per cent," he said in a report Friday.  The market capitalization of the MSCI World Index has lost about $2-trillion in value in that period, putting the benchmark just about back to early 2012 levels, Mr. Porter added in an interview, noting that while other factors have played into it, concern over Greece was the primary culprit.  "Putting the market cap loss of more than $2-trillion into some perspective, the value of Greece’s nominal GDP was $265-billion (and falling) over the past four quarters, or roughly three Facebooks," he said.  "True, this comparison mixes stocks (equity values) and flows (GDP), but it gives a sense of just how much havoc a grand total of 0.16 per cent of the world’s population can cause for financial markets." - The Globe and Mail.

EXTREME WEATHER: Wild Tornadoes Strafe Kansas - Injures One; Damages Homes and Businesses; Downs Power Lines!

Tornadoes raked Kansas overnight, injuring one person and damaging some homes and businesses.  The Kansas Department of Emergency Management said one person was injured in Russell when a modular home was destroyed.

Kelly Escue, of Wichita, carries items salvaged Saturday afternoon from the rubble
that was the home of her grandmother, Pat Strecker. Strecker's home half a mile
south of Russell was destroyed Friday night by a tornado.

That person was taken to Russell Hospital. Several other homes in the area were also damaged.  CBS Affiliate KWCH reports five tornadoes touched down in Rush County. The most significant damage happened in La Crosse, a town of about 1,400, where a tornado struck a four-block area. No injuries were reported.  The Kansas Department of Emergency Management says one building, a car wash, a farm shed and three camping trailers were destroyed.  Authorities closed U.S. 183 north of the town and Kansas 4 west of the town because of downed power lines.  Tree limbs, power lines and poles are also down as a result of the storm. Downed power lines forced the closure of U.S. 183 north of town and K-4 west of town. - CBS News.

WATCH: Incredible dusk tornadoes near La Crosse, Kansas.

WATCH: Weird tornadoes over Russell County, Kansas.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONTAGION: The Euro Zone Crisis - Spain's Borrowing Costs Hits Record High; Nearing Crisis Level!

Spain's borrowing costs have jumped as lingering worries over the state of the country's banking system and the cost to the state of nationalising Bankia continued to pound sentiment.  Yields on Spain's 10-year government bonds on Monday moved above 6.50 per cent once again -- moving closer to the 7 per cent level that prompted bailouts for Greece, Portugal and Ireland. 

Spreads on Spanish 10-year bonds over German Bunds were also flirting with euro-era highs, climbing above 500 basis points.  Spain's cost of borrowing had recovered dramatically from the highs seen at the end of last year after the European Central Bank injected more than €1tn into the eurozone banking system under its three-year longer-term refinancing operation. Spanish and Italian banks were heavy users of the LTRO, using the money to buy government bonds.  However, as concerns have grown over a possible Greek exit from the euro and the risk of contagion, spreads on so-called peripheral government debt have risen. 

While Spain has taken action to deal with worries at Bankia, many analysts continue to believe the government has not gone far enough in addressing wider issues affecting the country's banks, which lent heavily during the property bubble and are sitting on an estimated €180bn of bad real estate loans.  Last week Mariano Rajoy's government unveiled its latest plan to tackle problems in its banking system, announcing it would make an emergency €19bn injection in to Bankia -- which was created from the merger of seven domestic savings banks. The controversial move will take the total amount of state aid in Spain's second-largest bank by domestic deposits to €23.5bn and will give Madrid a holding of up to 90 per cent of Bankia.  The government is understood to be considering injecting its own government debt into Bankia and its parent. Under the plan, Madrid would issue Spanish government guaranteed debt to Bankia in return for equity. The bank would then be able to deposit those bonds with the ECB as collateral for cash. - CNN.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: Eight Killed in Indonesia Landslide!

A landslide in Indonesia killed eight people, according to an official, after days of heavy rain hit a mountainous part of the country's main island.

File photo shows rescuers searching for landslide victims in Ciwidey district, West Java, Indonesia, Feb. 24, 2010.
Heavy rain prompted the landslide, killing more than a dozen people and destroying scores of homes.

"The landslide occurred on Thursday night and killed eight people. We were able to retrieve all eight bodies by late Friday night," Bogor Disaster Mitigation Agency official Makmur Rozak told AFP.

He said 16 people were illegally mining for gold in western Java in the mountains of Bogor district, south of the capital Jakarta, when the landslide struck "after days of heavy rain".

"We rescued the other eight, so everyone is accounted for," Rozak said. Landslides are common in Indonesia, particularly in heavily deforested mountainous areas. - Bangkok Post.

PLANETARY TREMORS: 6.7 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Santiago Del Estero, Argentina!

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck northern Argentina early on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The quake occurred at 2:07 a.m. local time (0507 GMT) and was located at 28.060°S, 63.109°W. The tremor had a depth of 589.3 km (366.2 miles), with an epicentre 52 km (32 miles) northwest of Anatuya, Santiago del Estero, Argentina;  117 km (72 miles) southeast of Santiago del Estero, Argentina; 249 km (154 miles) southeast of San Miguel de Tucuman, Tuc., Argentina; and 838 km (520 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires, D.F., Argentina.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, which was upgraded from an initial 6.3.

Click HERE for additional Details, Summary, Maps and Scientific & Technical information from the USGS.